Parents group celebrates historic struggle to educate their children

Tuesday

Jul 30, 2013 at 3:59 PMAug 1, 2013 at 3:22 PM

Jim E. Winburn, Staff Writer

ADELANTO • Parents, teachers and nonprofit organizers for putting students first celebrated the first-ever school in the United States to be completely transformed by California's 'Parent Empowerment' law.

Parent Revolution, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that conceived the California parent trigger law passed in 2010, hosted a celebratory media event Tuesday to share testimony with the public on how they say Desert Trails Preparatory Academy became a winning solution.

"Without you this wouldn't be possible," Bartola del Villar, a parent leader for the Desert Trails Parent Union, told other parents in attendance. "Last year when the year started I worried about where my children were going to go. ... This year, when I walked in there I didn't have to worry — I knew there was going to be a great teacher in every single room."

As one of the many members of the parent union concerned about the future of their children at the former Desert Trails Elementary School, del Villar said she worked side-by-side with Parent Revolution to successfully change the direction of a failing public school.

California's 'Parent Empowerment' law provides several solutions for taking over a persistently failing school if at least 50 percent of parents sign a petition to take control. Options include forcing the school district to bring in new staff, to replace the principal or create smaller classes, to convert the school into a charter, or even close the school entirely.

Adelanto parents gathered signatures in their 2011-2012 Parent Trigger campaign from more than 50 percent of the school's parents, worked through legal obstacles to select a charter school operator that would manage the school, and ultimately changed the educational prospects of their students — three-quarters of whom at the time were unable to read and write up to standards, according to state testing scores.

The academy opened Monday. Parents envision it as a high performing, not-for-profit charter school with more than 500 students.

"Four years ago, Parent Trigger was just an idea," Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution said at Tuesday's event. "Two years ago, when many of these parents standing here called us out of the blue and asked us for help, a day like today seemed like an improbable dream. But today the parents of Desert Trails have made history by ushering in a new era of parent power."

However, Austin warned those in attendance about the sobering dose of humility, reminding parents and organizers that the real work is still ahead of them.

"We recognize that most school turnaround efforts fail," Austin said, reminding how community partners are needed to continue to embrace a 'kids first' agenda. "We recognize that the work of these trail-blazing parents has only just begun — that what has transpired up to now has actually been the easy part ... and we also recognize that parents cannot do this alone."

One such rampart to community support for the school includes counseling services to be provided to students at Desert Trails by the Desert/Mountain Children's Center — services which include individual, group and family counseling.

This also will be followed in the near future with the opening of the Desert Trails Preparatory Family Resource Center on the school campus, where the Children's Center will offer a clothes closet, food bank, tutoring services and linkage to other community resources.

"We are about helping kids and families," said Jenae Holtz, director of Desert/Mountain Children's Center, noting that center's mission is the 'relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child.'

"We actually live that everyday, but the really exciting part of what's going on here is that within a couple of months, we're going to set down a family resource center on Desert Trails Preparatory school campus," she said.

Tuesday's event took place at Mgrdichian Park (sic), next door to Desert Trails Preparatory Academy in Adelanto. Following the event, members of the media were treated to a tour of the new school campus.

Cynthia Ramirez, the lead parent coordinator for the Desert Trails Parent Union broke down in tears at the realization of the school's transformation, noting how community support overcame most struggles.

"To see all these changes, and having all the folks we had come in during our campaign, it would not have been possible without ... all the parents that came out to support us," Ramirez said. "It's just very overwhelming."

Jim E. Winburn can be reached at jwinburn@vvdailypress.com or at 760-955-5468.

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